The wife’s family were all lawyers (father; brother). The husband didn’t want the divorce and chose to ignore most of the proceedings. He felt that because she packed up and moved out, and the kids weren’t speaking to him, it was her fault. He felt that he was righteous and she was not and the courts would see that.
Big mistake. After it was all over and all the property was split, the courts came back at him for college tuition. The argument (which the courts upheld) was that both of the parents were college educated and it was the parents’ obligation (mostly him) to see that the kids received at least as much education as their parents. The implication was that if the parents had been HS drop outs, he would have only been responsible until they were 18.
Part of what I don’t get is these same judges who insist it’s the parents’ obligation to pay their kids’ tuition then won’t interfere with the kids’ privacy by allowing the parents to see their grades.Or to know if their daughter has sought an abortion... or anything else. In those cases, the kids are considered adults. Go figure.
Too bad your friend didn’t have someone tell him at the time how important it is to have good legal counsel while going thru a divorce. Little in domestic relations law is ‘fair.’ Tough, expensive lesson for him.